Take the crisis in psychiatrists’ vocations head on. This is the whole purpose of the campaign launched by the national college of academics in psychiatry (CNUP). The organization published this Tuesday, January 23, a study carried out by the CSA institute among some two thousand people. Including 600 medical students.
A specialty considered “less prestigious”
The objective? “Deconstructing the prejudices” of a specialty shunned by medical students. Last year, 67 places out of a total of 547 remained vacant during the medical specialty competition. And for good reason: 62% of them consider psychiatry to be less prestigious than other specialties. A quarter of them are also “afraid” of it. And the share swells to 37% when they have never completed a specialty internship.
According to the results of the barometer carried out by the CSA institute, several possible explanations seem to emerge. First and foremost, the lack of recognition. An impression shared by 88% of medical students. The fear of isolation compared to other medical specialties is also expressed by 63% of them. Not to mention the question of psychological suffering with which 6 out of 10 students are uncomfortable.
Psychiatry, a still little-known branch
Preconceived ideas, which are found more widely within the French population, and which reflect a marked lack of knowledge of psychiatry. Straitjackets, sedatives, dismal buildings… “beliefs inherited from practices from another time”, deplores the CNUP, while confinement under constraint concerns “only a tiny part” of patients, assured during a press conference the president of the CNUP, Olivier Bonnot.
Yet nearly half of those surveyed still think that people in psychiatric hospitals are “usually locked up,” and 44 percent think they “just ply people with drugs.” A majority also consider the profession of psychiatrist to be “dangerous”. An almost schizophrenic reasoning, to the extent that 87% of French people recognize its health and social usefulness to psychiatry.
“Historically, when psychiatry did not have effective therapeutic means, it could have happened like this but since the 1970s, psychiatry has evolved a lot” towards “patient autonomy, collaborative relationships, patient care ambulatory”, argues Marie Tournier, professor at the University of Bordeaux.
In total, more than 60% of French people consider the world of psychiatry “anxious”, and 19% are even “very afraid” of it. This, without even managing to establish a clear distinction between the different professions linked to mental health. For example, 51% struggle to identify the differences between a psychiatrist, a psychoanalyst and a psychologist.
To try to dispel French preconceptions about the profession, a television spot will be broadcast next week on France Télévisions and M6. And will return to a dedicated sitefull of information and testimonials.